Sweat and Nourishment

Fitbit Zip Review

I was into the idea of getting a pedometer for a while as I felt that cardio and muscular structure/toning wasn’t enough, I needed to move around more and thought that getting a pedometer would be the perfect way of making sure that I did that.

Here is what your steps per day equate to:

Under 5000 steps per day= sedentary lifestyle

5,000-7,499 = low active

7500-9999= somewhat active

10000= active

12,500 and above= highly active.

I generally aim to get 10000-12500+ steps a day, although that can be difficult if there’s bad weather. I decided I wanted to get a pedometer that sits on your hip rather then wearing one you wear around your wrist because it may mistake arm exercises as steps and also a wrist pedometer wouldn’t necessarily go with my outfit! Whereas a small black clip on pedometer is much more discrete. I bought a cheap clip on pedometer from a sports shop but it kept falling off and eventually fell off and broke. I decided to get a fitbit zip as it wasn’t too expensive, it’s really tiny and cute and also has a really firm grip so it doesn’t look like it’s going to fall off.

Other good features include:

It automatically goes back to 0 steps at midnight

You can sync it with your laptop and track all your info

It counts your “very active minutes” which is good because I want to make sure I am actually getting enough (dance) cardio in.

You can set goals for yourself such as number of steps and how many active minutes you want to reach in a day.

You get little badges that spur you on once you’ve reached a particular milestone eg a high number of lifetime steps or best number of steps in a day

You can add your friends who also have a fitbit so you can get competitive and/or support one another.

It also has other features such as calories burned, a means to track your weight, how far you’ve travelled, how much you need to drink and number of calories in, but I don’t bother with any of these as I’m primarily concerned with number of steps and active minutes.

The only annoying thing about this pedometer and most pedometers is that it doesn’t effectively measure cycling and isn’t suitable for water sports. So if I go for a long bike ride I normally factor that in as contributing to my number of steps in a day.

I have found that since wearing a pedometer I’m definitely more aware of how much I’m moving around and aim to go for walks to increase my steps if I’m not reaching them during my day to day activities.